Final Paper
What is Society?
Final Paper
Due Monday, May 15
35 points
Assignment: 4-5-page, double-spaced thesis essay. Submit as word.doc on Moodle
Your final paper assignment requires you to respond to one of the following prompts and to develop a thesis that argues for and supports your own position. This paper is not merely a summary or interpretation but asks you to develop your own position about the philosophers you consider. This is not a research paper and should only refer to primary texts. Restrict your arguments to one or two philosophers at most. I have provided the following questions to help you develop a thesis statement. (You can modify them if you speak with me first):
Topics:
1. Critical Theory is remains divided between two approaches to our understanding of society. Theorists who subscribe to Marx's critique of capitalism argue that individual experiences, beliefs, and attitudes are largely made by objective political and economic relations (for example Adorno and Horkheimer). Other theorists (like Freud) point to human psychology and other subjective factors as the key to understanding behavior patterns in society. Which approach is more effective? Are individuals the product of objective social structures, or do individual subjects and their beliefs make society?
2. Critical Theory is indebted to two fundamental theories of human nature. First, Marx proposes the concept of humanity as a "species-being," and suggests that the essence of human freedom is creative labor, and the free development of our faculties in a post-capitalist world. Second, Freud argues that human nature is grounded in biological and psychological drives, and that the pleasure principle and reality principle regulate all human life. Which portrayal of the human being is true? Are we the laboring animal or the desiring animal?
3. Develop your own topic and thesis statement. Be sure to discuss your plan for the paper with me prior to writing your draft!